Restoring Access

Since 2007,the Board and Trust have removed thirty obstacles to fish migration

One of the Dee’s most exciting projects got underway in 2014 when a fish pass was installed on the Culter Burn in the autumn of that year. The fish pass, installed with the support of local businessmen Martin Gilbert and Stewart Spence, allowed salmon access to the upper part of the Culter catchment for the first time in 250 years. In the five years since the first adult salmon ascended the pass, we have been heartened to see that the habitat is conducive to fish growth and that there is the capacity to support larger numbers over time.

In that first year, 38 salmon migrated up the fish pass into the Culter Burn. The following years showed lower numbers of salmon, with between 9 and 15 fish moving up in the years between 2015-2017. In 2018, despite low water conditions in the river, 27 salmon migrated upstream. Over time, with its good spawning and rearing habitats, the Culter catchment will continue to grow as an important tributary for spawning salmon on the Dee.

Read about the return of salmon to the Culter here

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A Million Trees to Save Our Salmon

January 30, 2020

The River Dee Trust has announced plans to plant a million native trees in one of the biggest nature restoration projects in the Cairngorms. The project will recreate areas of landscape that have been lost for 2000 years.

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